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Random House Home Video
Background: Random House Home Video was a home video unit established by Random House, publisher of most notably Dr. Seuss's books. In 1995, they begin distributing through Sony Wonder. The company went dormant in 2001 and remained that way for many years until 2010, when it was reorganized as Random House Children's Entertainment. 1st Logo (1983-1984, 1988) Nicknames: "Cheesy House", "The House", "The Random House", "Rainbow House", "Rainbow Random House", "Primitive Random House", "Primitive House" Logo: On a gray background, a thick drawing of a small building "slides" up. Another building grows behind it and the last one "slides" from the right side of it, forming a stylized house with heavy black outlines (Random House's corporate logo). After that, a square wipes in behind the house, with five lines in the left side which colors itself in with rainbow colors while the right one stays blank. Finally, the white words "RANDOM HOUSE VIDEO" with a black drop shadow fly in from the bottom of the house and the rainbow. FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Simple 1980s computer effects, so the animation is really, really primitive. It looks like it was done on an Apple II, and resembles the Playhouse Video logo. The text is also too plain and slightly choppy. Music/Sounds: A bell ring when the first part of the house "slides" up and a bright string-like synth that repeats itself as the bell fades to a synthesized drone. Availability: Ultra rare. Seen on the earliest Random House tapes. It makes a brief surprise appearance on the 1988 VHS of U.S. Government In Action: The Senate. Scare Factor: Medium. The design of the logo and the cheesy music can scare more than a few. 2nd Logo (Late 1980s) Nicknames: "Random House Video Collections", "Cheesy House II", "The House II", "The Random House II", "Rainbow House II", "Rainbow Random House II", "The Filmstrip and the Cassette" Logo: We fade in to a white background where we see the Random House logo from before, with white door and windows. We suddenly zoom out to find out that the logo is actually a printing on a filmstrip container. It spins around and later opens up. A folded filmstrip comes out of the container, later unfolding. Floating by its side comes an audio cassette, with the dark blue-background label "RH", with the B&W Random House logo right beside it. The audio cassette and the filmstrip suddenly enter the "tape" edge of a VHS tape, which has the text "RANDOM HOUSE, INC." on the tape label, and also contains the Random House logo on the end label. The VHS enters a VCR, later lighting up. We pan into a television screen with the Random House logo on a violet background, later filling up the whole screen. The logo zooms out, and the following text fades in: RANDOM HOUSE PRESENTS Depending of the video collection distributed on the tape, more text fades in below: Appearance Variants: *On Newbery Video Collection tapes, it reads: FROM THE NEWBERY VIDEO COLLECTION *On Caldecott Video Collection tapes, it reads: FROM THE CALDECOTT VIDEO COLLECTION FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Too primitive and choppy animation, even for its time. Music/Sounds: A lower pitched and extended version of the 1st logo's theme. Availability: Ultra rare. The Newbery variant was seen on Call It Courage and the 1989 VHS ofVolcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mt. St. Helens, while the Caldecott variant was seen on a 1988 VHS of The Polar Express. Scare Factor: Low. The music and animation may get to some. At least this is better than the previous logo where this is based off, which was scarier (and cheesier) than that. 3rd Logo (1984-2001) Nicknames: "Cheesy House III", "The House III", "The Random House III", "Rainbow House III", "Rainbow Random House III", "Slightly Less Cheesy House", "The Arthur Logo" Logo: On a shady amethyst-colored background, six rainbow-colored lines are drawn onto the screen by light rays, in different directions. The lines sharply angle around 45 degrees near the edge of the screen. As the lines begin to finish drawing, the parts of a stylized house (the same one from before) begin to slide onto the screen at the area where the lines suddenly slope. The rainbow and the house zoom out as the rainbow begins to retract. The sloped section disappears completely, and a diagonal beam of light draws a sharp black outline around the house and the rainbow. The words "RANDOM HOUSE" fades in underneath the rainbow/house combo, and the words "HOME VIDEO" zoom in from the center. FX/SFX: The rainbow effects, the sliding houses, the formation of the company name, all done by '80s computer effects. This was animated by Michael Sporn Studios in New York. Cheesy Factor: The rainbow lines and house-sliding look rather cheap, and the zooming in of "HOME VIDEO" looks a bit too similar to and as cheap as Viacom's "V of Doom", but it's otherwise fine. It's a major step-up from the previous 2 logos. Music/Sounds: A synthesized piece of music that ends with a synthesized cymbal crescendo as "RANDOM HOUSE" fades in. A chime arpeggio is heard as "HOME VIDEO" zooms in, followed by a deep bass note, and a brief synthesized auto harp stinger before the logo fades out. Availability: Uncommon. It appeared on older VHS tapes of Dr. Seuss, The Berenstain Bears (1980s series), Sesame Street, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, and Arthur. It also appeared on certain DVDs of the latter series like Arthur's Perfect Christmas. The print logo was originally in black and white, but was given color from 1995 onward. Also appeared on American Brum VHS releases at the time. Scare Factor: Low, due to the cheesy animation and the music, but this is a well-liked logo. Other